Lot 450: Une Nuit à Chang-hai. 1928

Description:
Artist: JACQUELIN MARVAL (1866-1932) Size: 30 7/8 x 46 1/2 in./78.4 x 118.2 cm Atelier Gaston Dofinant, Paris This freeform design by Marval appears far more Modern than its 1928 date would imply. Combining elements of Impressionism and Expressionism, the composition invites the viewer to an Shanghai-themed arts ball at Paris's Magic-City (see No. 397) put on by the AAAA - a group known for its wild annual happenings. By the late 1920s, Shanghai was regarded as "The Paris of the East," notorious for its opium trade, so Magic-City must have been particularly hallucinatory that night.